Housing starts data

June housing starts totaled 1.35mm which was above the estimate of 1.30mm. Also, May was revised up by 37k to 1.31mm. Breaking it down, interestingly single family starts fell by 22k m/o/m to 980k and that is the least since last October and squares with the subdued builder confidence figure seen yesterday. As for multi family starts (lumpy month to month), they totaled 373k which is up from 312k in May and vs the multi year low of 258k in March. It touched 627k at the peak in April 2022. 

Permits filed for single family fell to 934k, the least since May 2023. So while the demand for new homes is obvious with not many existing homes on the market (more so now though), the affordability challenge is keeping a lid on new builds. Permits for multi family rose to 512k from 443k and holding in there surprisingly since the economics are just not as attractive for apartment landlords. That said, this figure was between 650k-800k in the peak in 2022 before everything rolled over.